The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1887-11-26
THE PEANUTS USES.


lates.
The peanut is thorough democrat.
He is not fair to look upon, not half so
pretty as his much-abused brother, the
old and blooming chestnut, yet he
is equally at home in the Fifth avenue
palace rs he is in the tenement on the
Bend, and is equally loved and respect
ed in both, although he is often sugar
ed in the more fashionable quarter.
No one for moment would suspect
1t, but really "there's millions ir 1t. !"
Not only does the peanut afford COM
Portable living for thousands of gentle
men who quit sunny Italy for ltaly's
good, to bloom out as merchants ut the
street corners of Gotham. but it aids in
giving employment to other thousands
on three continents-Europe, Africa
and America.
From Virginia southwark to the Gulf
of Mexico it grows in great abundance,
and millions of bushels are dug up an
nually to provide strength for people
who attend The circus and are compell-
ed to listen to the ancient jokes of he
clown. When Jack Frost first ma kes
himself acquainted with the beautiful
autumn then the peanut farmer is in
his glory. He HES himself at early
dawn to the field armed with pronged
hoe and digs up the modest peanut.
For the peanut is modest and hides from
the vulgar gaze. Indeed, it is II pecul-
iarlty of this nut to push its pods into
isntead of out of the ground. Hence it
requires digging to obtain the crop.
The farmer with his pronged hoe pulls
out the vine with the peanuts attached,
and leaves them on the ground for two
or three days to dry. Then he re-
moves them to shed. where they
quietly rest for two weeks. The nuts
are then picked from the vine and are
ready for the tanning mill.
One hundred bushels to the acre is q
fair estimate, and good vAanuts are
worth 81 bushel. If manor n
woman, for that MATERIALS 100-acre
farm he can have u great quantity of
peanuts, which when exchanged for
dollars, even trade dollars, will net
him handsome return for his outlay
and labor.
Virginia, the ''mother of presidents,
may be also called the mother of Amer
lean peanuts. That state alone furnish
es over two million bushels. The Car
olinas send their quota, and so does
Tennessee, though the peanuts from
the latter state are not as white as
those from the other southern states,
and hence not so high priced.
The nuts are sent to the peanut fac
tory, as callow youths are sent to col
lege, to be busted, coming out rs
white as snow-not Broadway snow,
but Just common everyday snow. The
farmers used to do the busting and
polishing at home, but now they
find II cheaper to send the nuts TO the
''peanG' factory
At NorfcrA Va. Nv, are nine of,
these factories, wh3;, y .llion bushels
often more-of the mats are cleaned,
polished, and sorted by colored women.
OF course, all the peanuts are not
large and handsome. Those with only
one kernel are placed in the shelter.
which quickly removes the lover
coat" and the lonely peanut slips
through to find lots of company in the
separator below which sorts them into
three sizes: extra large" mo l" and
mo g" Then the nuts are packedup.
sent north and go to the hands of the
thn ,t-hn .riuaQ biu
customers tally.
A better fate awaits the big healthy
peanut, the aristocrat so to speak. 1t
comes out of the tanning mill white
and pretty rs a picture" with the
shell unbroken. These are sent north
also and become the stock in trade Of
the street vender and the corner
Spectator. They buy the peanuts for
81 cents pound. The roasting when
they do not do it themselves, costs
them ! cent pound The loss in the
process of roasting is 10 percent, and
the CHEEKY peanut comes up smiling in
the last round at the cost of 81 bu-
shell. The vender sells them at 10 cents
Il quart But his quart is just little
contracted, and he always manages to
have forty of them to the bushel in
defiance of all the rules of measure.
ment. Thus the nnts cost him SLAB
bushel and he receives "a bushel,
clear profit of $3.50
But let no one think that this finishes
the work of the modest peanut, Its
mission has much wider scope. Not
only does it figure on the street stand,
but in another foim it often appears
on the table of even the best regulated
families rs "olive OIL" But this de-
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